Almería confirmed for season 6 location, reports of new filming sites in Spain

The province of Almería has been officially confirmed as a location for Game of Thrones season 6! Almería brings several new possible exciting locations to the table and will be a nice addition to the show’s roster of shooting sites.

Yesterday it was made official in a statement after a meeting between Susana Díaz, president of the regional government of Andalucía, Minister of Culture Rosa Aguilar, AEPAA-APRIA president Manuel Gómez Cardeña, and Fresco Film’s Peter Welter Soler.

La Voz de Almería reports that a press release has confirmed the Alcazaba de Almería as one of the shooting locations for season 6. The thousand-year-old fortress has served as a film location for several productions including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Conan the Barbarian.

Faro de Mesa Roldán

It’s unknown which storyline the Alcazaba will take part in, at this time. The location is more suggestive of Essos or Dorne plotlines, though we can’t rule out others such as the Oldtown story, with that city located in southern Westeros. The interiors and gardens of the Alcazaba also present some interesting possibilities.

La Voz de Almería has heard from their sources that the producers have expressed interest in other locations around the area, including the Faro de Mesa Roldán, in Carboneras, a lighthouse located on a mesa.

If the show does use this shooting site, I could envision two scenarios: either using the lighthouse and building it up to represent the great Hightower lighthouse of Oldtown, or they could CGI over the lighthouse altogether and use that mesa to create Casterly Rock (a huge castle located by a harbor and built into the rock), a place that many hope we’ll get to see next year.

La Voz also suggests that the Tabernas Desert, el Chorrillo de Sierra Alhamilla in Pechinas, and the beaches of the Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park might be locations for season 6 as well.

This decision bodes well for Almería, overall. ABC.es reports that Osuna seen a 35% rise in tourism since Game of Thrones used the Spanish town and its bull ring as a major location for season 5.

The Alcazaba looks great as a location for Sunspear —either the city’s walls or the Palace’s walls. At any rate, looks like Sunspear to me. Now, the question is: will there be any Sunspear in season six? Well… we don’t know.

If you take a closer look at the castle’s passageways along the walls, they look exactly like the kind of location GoT loves —you know, a few characters talking and moving themselves along with the plot. Take a look:

There are confirmed reports of filming in Croatia in all the usual places. Though, to be fair, Sue has said that one of her sources told her Croatia is being used more sparingly than in previous years.

No. These are new locations not replacements. This year they are still filming in the usual places in Dubrovnik, Split etc. for Kings Landing, Braavos & Meereen, but even there winter is coming so they are filming later in the year. In the case of Dubrovnik it definitely suits their tourist board better as their hotels are now fully booked up all summer and into the autumn. They are very accommodating to GoT because the filming has helped, but if the cast and crew came along in October/November shut off the tourist sites and fill the hotels then all the better.

No one will remember but I called Faro de Mesa Roldán for part of Oldtown in another thread! Think there are better locations for Casterly Rock. Wonder if that’s what the plan is? Other locations could easily be Oldtown, KL or Dorne.

Regular local extras in Dubrovnik have already been contacted to ensure availability this year, starting a month or so later than usual. They don’t need extras casting calls there any more, as long as the usuals are available. Seems to me they are confirming the Spain locations first because they need a lot more time to organise recruitment and may be filming earlier. Certainly they are not expanding in Croatia, but going with the team of people who already know what to do and when.

I actually have the whole Dorne storyline sort of thought out to myself, lol. I think Doran will arrest Ellaria and the Sand Snakes upon hearing the Lannisters declared war on them, took Trystane prisoner and Myrcella was poisoned. He will then tell them about his loyalty to the Targaryens, execute Ellaria and scatter the frightened and now super-loyal Sand Snakes all over Westeros: Nymeria to Oldtown, Tyene to KL and Obara stays in Dorne to prepare for war with Hotah. Doran will exchange letters with Dany and then move to Sunspear.
Around episode 9 or so, the royal army and Obara + Hotah’s army will clash in the desert, Obara will die because Obara, Hotah will get in a duel with whoever commands the royal army (I’m thinking either Loras or Randyll Tarly). During that duel, the battle will be interrupted by Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal, with Dany and some other people (Tyrion?) riding them. Both armies bend the knee out of awe.
Dany then goes to Sunspear, where her ships also arrive, as an arrangement with Doran. She leaves for Westeros with the Dornish, royal, Unsullied and Dothraki armies.

They’re definitely not doing much in Croatia this year. And from what you’ve said, that’s not a confirmation that they’re using all the usual locations within the country. I think we’re just going to have to wait and see what leaks as far as specific sites.

They may not be doing much, but if they are contacting extras in both Dubrovnik and Split why would they bother if they were not going there. We have already seen some scripts for Meereen so that is not cut, and I can’t imagine that they could miss out Kings Landing completely either. Cersei might be staying in quite a lot with her recent exposure but there is Tommen, Margery & Ser Robert Strong at least. It would be impossible to change the whole look of Kings Landing now. They could change Braavos/use old footage, especially if they do HoBaW & Iron Bank interiors mostly.

Not sure about the Areo and Obara armies bit as not sure they’d peg a big battle storyline on two such minor characters. I think we will see Ellaria get the chop though and Dany will use Dorne as a base for her invasion in Westeros.

Ellaria and Doran. I think TV Ellaria will recite a version of Book Doran’s fire and blood speech, while TV Doran will take on Book Ellaria being against reckless bloodshed. As Wimsey pointed out, Ellaria might have a new ally, and she’ll use these connections to try to depose Doran and she’ll send the Snakes to their assignments. Doran is probably part of the Targaryen restoration faction, and he’ll send Hotah to contact Varys/Dany in Mereen or even to help Jaime. The only wild card is Trystane, we don’t know which side he’s on and what he’ll do.

There are confirmed reports of filming in Croatia in all the usual places. Though, to be fair, Sue has said that one of her sources told her Croatia is being used more sparingly than in previous years.

And why and how would TWOW / Season 6 skip King’s Landing?

If that were true, perhaps it means that they have less need for “exteriors” for KL this year.

Why spend extra budget showcasing things that we have already seen many times before?

How does she leave for Westeros with the 4 armies if she’s already there, according to your prophecy? You say she arrives on Drogon, interrupting the battle between the dornish and the Reachmen? Im confused.

Lack of screen time for characterisation was one issue but the ludicrous plot & dialogue, terrible action and added boobies just for the sake of being nice boobies were others. Maybe D&D thought the cheesiness of it all was going to be funny, a kind of light relief in a colourful, sunny place amid the gloom, doom and slaughter. If so, they should stick to drama, they are good at that.

They need to turn the ship around literally and figuratively and kill Ellaria at least, just to get some plot credibility back. More GoT would be executing Tyene with Ellaria watching – to show them all who is the boss. After that it could implode or explode, but either way there would be some logic.

Yeah, I might’ve been a bit unclear on that one (English is not my native language), but what I meant was that Dany and the dragons are flying ahead of the ships with her armies. She’ll interrupt the Lannister-Tyrell battle and the two armies + dragons + Dany go back to Sunspear. At the same time, her ships will also arrive there. 🙂

Yeah, this was something I bumped against as well. But I don’t really know who else can command the Dornish armies: in the first place, Dorne doesn’t really have a lot of main characters except Ellaria, and in second place, most characters who are there aren’t really fighters (Ellaria, Doran).

Thanks for the positive feedback y’all! 😀 I am actually outlining the whole season storyline-by-storyline like some sorta D&D-wannabe, maybe I’ll post that on a blog or something. I’ll be happy to send a link here then (if it’s allowed, that is).

Don’t think Ellaria or even Doran are heavy enough hitters at this point in time to take on that kind of responsibility. I was a believer in the Trysytane = Young Griff role but now he’s with Jaime, etc I don’t know! If Ellaria is offed and the Sand Snakes come into the fold then I can see them having roles supporting storylines elsewhere. Nym in Oldtown. Obara on the council (although if Trystane is now although that’s unlikely as I think Lannister-Martell relations are going to be at an all-time low after the Myrcella death). Tyene infiltrating the church. Honestly have no idea what they’re doing with Dorne now. I saw them as taking the Griffs role as a third faction for the throne but that seems less likely now. Will be pretty dull if they just end up supporting Dany like everyone else.

It will be pretty dull, but what else could be Dorne’s use for the endgame? The past season(s) has shown that they only introduce new characters when those characters are absolutely necessary for the main plot. Having Doran be the person who allows Dany to enter Westeros in a safe way and gives her another huge army as well would give Doran and the other Dornish in the show a purpose.

I’m not sure. Having them side with YG would have made sense as that would have made a significant force to rival Dany’s making her march on the throne more interesting. I was thinking they may make Trystane into YG to some degree ( his mother was from Dorne after all) but not sure how that’s happen now if Jaime et al have him captive.

With somewhere between 20 and 30 episodes remaining total, I think Daenerys is going to have ample challenges going forward without too much Dornish tomfoolery in her way. I like Doran opening the proverbial gates for her; it doesn’t make for a terribly interesting Dorne, perhaps, but I’ll enjoy the takeaway that Oberyn’s strife and death helped fuel Doran’s desire to see Targaryen rule restored.

While I don’t anticipate no King’s Landing at all in TWoW and Season 6, to be fair there are no confirmed POVs that would be in King’s Landing for TWoW. Of course that’s not to say there won’t be, but of the list Martin has confirmed, none of them will be in King’s Landing. So we’ll see.

After watching season 5 I hope they’re done with Dorne unless it concerns Dany. They muddled the story and they’ve lost me with the odd-fanfic approach of Jamie and the sand snakes. Myrcella dying only enhanced my rage towards the Dorne plot. So here’s to this location being for Danaerys or Old Town!

That was Arriane and at least she had a plot driven reason for doing it, rather than just randomly getting her boobs out just to show us. The worst cut from Dorne was Arriane, so much potential for legitimate female power and plots to undermine gone in favour of the useless Sand Snakes. Yawn.

Why does anybody think that would Ellaria be hanging around Dorne to let Doran off her? The question we should be asking is, where are they going?

Mihnea: besides when TWOW comes out it will be us luaghing when selmy dies by slave soldier 12#, arriane has no point, aegon dies…etc.

I won’t be laughing, anymore than I laughed at Arriane’s pointless PoV chapters in Crows. (Being irritated does not make me laugh!)

Alix-the-Direwolf: The worst cut from Dorne was Arriane, so much potential for legitimate female power and plots to undermine gone in favour of the useless Sand Snakes. Yawn.

You misspelled “best” pretty badly: it is b-e, not w-o-r. Seriously, why do people like that awful character? Her contribution to the story was identical to Cersei’s, and she had no effect on the overall plot. Arriane did nothing to show “legitimate” female power: she was just another girl who got crushed in an adult’s game. Arriane basically read like a horrible parody of a Jewish American Princess.

At any rate, Arriane was not cut for the Sand Snakes: she simply was cut. The Riverlands were cut for Dorne: Jaime’s story (which they kept) was set in the latter rather than in the former. The Sand Snakes were nothing more than foils in either case: only in the books, they were foils for a third party PoV masquarading as a protagonist whereas on TV they were foils for a legitimate (albeit 2nd or 3rd tier) protagonist.

james: Of course that’s not to say there won’t be, but of the list Martin has confirmed, none of them will be in King’s Landing. So we’ll see.

Cersei is a protagonist now, and she will start in Kings Landing. So that much will be there. However, none of the other protagonists are going to start at Kings Landing: so, it will just be Cersei, at least initially.

TheTouchOfFrost: I was thinking they may make Trystane into YG to some degree ( his mother was from Dorne after all) but not sure how that’s happen now if Jaime et al have him captive.

It could not work like that, anyway. Aegon’s role in the story is going to be to present Daeny with a real dilemma: adhere to primogeniture and the basic value of upholding the family honor (Aegon’s claim is better than hers under those rules and her primary motivation is the “family values” morality of Westeros) or accept that she’s truly more qualified to rule than is Aegon. It’s another angel on one shoulder vs. angel on the other shoulder. Trystane cannot be that: Daeny would have no internal conflicts about pushing Trystane aside as Trystane is no more “legitimate” heir to the Throne than Robert or Tommen.

This does leave open the question of: where is Ellaria going? At this point, my guess is the Tyrells.

Also, is the captivity reversed? Jaime’s on a ship that Doran provided: presumably the crew would be following Trystane’s commands, not Jaime’s.

Mihnea: ah wimsey! good to see you here, you got the best way to shut up trolls/haters, with logic.

Ah, thanks! You do very well given that it’s a second (or third) language: Sie schreiben auf Englisch viel besser als ich auf Deutsch schreiben würde! (And that’s the only other language in which I can write or speak anything coherent: well, than and Klingon….)

I am a little bummed that it looks like they won’t be doing Aegon. I figured that they were holding him off until he was relevant: he would have been quite pointless last season. And after Ellaria decided to disregarded Doran, I really assumed that this is where she would go. However, at this point, I suspect that we would have heard of a relevant casting.

honestly i am very sad that aegon is not in, i was one of those who argued that he was the real deal.

what i think is the problem here is that after so many years and so many theories, so well tought and argued, is that when things go different then how we expected, instead of simply enjoyng the story, we feel almost cheated.
the same goes with all characters not only aegon.

for exemple my favourite ending would have been Aegon on the IT and Dany rulling Essos. i know now that this is highly unlikly of happening.

and also many people instead of analasing really how importat they’re theories/characters are, they just take the cynical viewpoit thinking those where cut out of the show just to spite them.

In your opinion that is what his role is going to be. We have no confirmation of that yet! He may not have anything to do with Dany’s storyline at all. Is there any reason why it can’t be revealed that Trystane is Aegon? If R+L=J is true then it shows that dark-haired Targs are not impossible. Creating a backstory of how he came to be in Dorne under Doran’s (his uncle’s) care would actually be a lot more plausible than the plot about him being smuggled to Essos (not that I’ve got much issue with that either). In that way he could still pose a moral dilemma for Dany and the Dornish would have a very strong reason to get behind him. Not saying this is going to happen at all but I don’t think we should make bold predictions about character purposes when pretty much everything is up in the air now. I remember earlier this year you seemed convinced that they would work the Young Griff story into the show, Are you of the same position now?
Why would she go to the Tyrells? The Martells have a long history of rivalry recently stoked up again by Oberyn crippling WiIllas. I mean it could happen but I don’t see any compelling reason why either would get any benefit out of an alliance. I think next season she’ll try escaping Dorne or raising a resitance and quickly lose her head.
On the Jaime/Trystane hostage situation. I honestly have no idea what’s going on. The Dorne storyline didn’t make a lot of sense at the best of times this season. I guess the options are: Jaime and Bronn overpower (no idea how many sailors there are on the ship)/ bribe/ or threaten the crew with killing Trystane to get back to KL ; They turn the ship around and sail back to Dorne ( please no!) or Myrcella isn’t actually dead (Trystane may have had a remedy?!) which I think is a long shot as think she was confirmed dead in an interview plus her death would drive a massive wedge between Jaime nad Cersei which I think needs to happen. All bets are off!

Ah good 🙂 Does seem to be calming down a bit around here lately now we’re in the off-season. Although I have to admit to getting into a ding dong or two in other threads because some folks seem to think their opinions are fact.

Wimsey: Jaime’s story (which they kept) was set in the latter rather than in the former

What do you mean by that? I don’t see many parallels at all between Jaime’s TV Dorne story and his book Riverlands story, other than him being fairly reasonable when dealing with politics, unlike his idiotic, cruel, and petty sister. A character maintaining the same basic personality traits a pretty loose definition of “keeping” a story.

The only reason I can see them not showing to much kl so we can catch up in other aspects.. Like riverlands or bran/arya and greyjoys briennes ect. So maybe 3-4 episodes? In this case they won’t have the trial by combat said and shown till s7. To bring in more hype for #cleganbowl

TheTouchOfFrost: In your opinion that is what his role is going to be. We have no confirmation of that yet!

Yes, it is my opinion. However, it is an opinion strongly supported by GRRM’s comment that we would see another Dragon Dance. It is also strongly supported by the fact that Daeny is the only protagonist for whom Aegon will represent any “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” response of the sort that is the basis for these stories. In many ways, this is the only thing Aegon has to offer the story: for every other protagonist, Aegon is just a fact of life with which to be dealt tactically one way or another.

At any rate, I have yet to see any other opinions as to what Aegon might be doing that are not based on gratuitous world-building or arbitrary plot-for-the-sake-of-plot. I am assuming that GRRM is not going to drop the ball and do that.

Akshay: The only reason I can see them not showing to much kl so we can catch up in other aspects.

There is nothing there on which to “catch up.” In the books, the Riverlands are important only as a backdrop for telling Jaime’s and Brienne’s stories. However, the show told the same stories in different backdrops. The Greyjoys were largely just plot-for-the-sake-of-plot in the books, and B&W have cut all of that stuff. Euron can just show up with a large pirate fleet and that will work fine. Indeed, that would work best!

Now, KL will be thinner than before: but that is because we have so many fewer lead characters there than in prior seasons.

Oh I think it is the most likely outcome but still can’t confirm for certain. I mean it looks like he’s cut so Dany’s story gets a little more linear which I personally find disappointing. Other options for Aegon? I guess he’s probably still pretty pissed his mother was raped and killed as was his sister and father so he’d have issues with the Lannisters and their allies. Perhaps a clash with Jon Snow could be an option too with his dad’s potential cheating on his mum being the cause of the whole Targ downfall?

Ah, but Argon and Jon Snow are nothing to each other right now. Aegon is unaware of Jon and Jon is unaware that Aegon ever meant anything to his (Jon’s) life. Daeny, on the other hand, has been raised in part to seek justice for her families’ deaths: including Aegon’s! She also has been raised to uphold her family’s honor: but on the asdumption that she is now the last representative of that family. Aegon, on the other hand, apparently was raised to see his aunt as an ally-in-waiting: nobody considered that Daeny would turn out so formidable or so strong-willed.

There might be viable slternatives, but at this late stage in the overarching story, the possibilities really are canalized substantially!

Wimsey: They were the same: Jaime sets out to be Tywin II and winds up being a man with a soul.

lol No, they weren’t the same. He set out on the Dorne mission specifically to rescue Myrcella. He didn’t send his lackeys or some great army to do the job for him. That’s not something Tywin would do and Jamie knows that. You try too hard to make everything fit into some “logical” framework. Stop trying to analyse everything! I didn’t see much of an evolution in Jamie at all, but oh well – it’s better than not seeing his character for a season, and at least we got to see Dorne in some capacity, even though it was grossly underused.

I think Dany and Viserys were pretty much a smokescreen for Varys and Illyrio. A distraction to keep the focus off the Griffs. This lends to the Blackfyre rumours too. This is my major bug bear with the show. Varys and Illyrio have apparently been backing her all along yet their plan was risky to say the very least. Send her off with a Dothraki horde. Don’t have anyone protect her. Feed accurate information to the guy trying to kill her and do nothing to stop attempts on her life! Just seems a bit silly to me. Alas we won’t be getting Aegon so the most interesting obstacle ( besides potentially Euron) for Dany has been removed. I think she needs to move on Westeros soon as both the readers and viewers are getting a bit fed up of her lack of progress in getting to Westeros.

D’Arcy R: No, they weren’t the same. He set out on the Dorne mission specifically to rescue Myrcella.

Yes: but remember that Jaime makes a big deal before hand about how it’s on him to keep and maintain everything for which Tywin worked, and that they (and he) have to shoulder his mantle now. The mission to rescue Mycrella begins very Tywinesque: he’s just going to take her without asking any questions and assuming that everyone is the enemy. In the end, he is distinguishing foe from less-foe, something Tywin would never have done, and he is coming to equitable arrangements with the Dornish rather than forcing his will on them.

TheTouchOfFrost: This is my major bug bear with the show. Varys and Illyrio have apparently been backing her all along yet their plan was risky to say the very least. Send her off with a Dothraki horde.

The problem is no less for the show than for the books: indeed, the fact that the plan is so risky and always changing is a plot point in the books! To an extent, that is just GRRM emulating history: nothing ever is simple or easy, after all. If this were happening in the real world, Varys would have to be making a lot of it up as he went along. (Of course, this also is why some people criticize GRRM’s books for reading more like histories than stories: but that is a separate issue.)

As for sending Daeny off with “protection,” what could that have been? In a way, is this not a Catch-22? They want to use Daeny to get an army strong enough to topple Robert Baratheon. If they have a force big enough to protect Daeny from the Dothraki, then they don’t need the Dothraki. At most, they could send one or two “agents” to protect her like Jorah. (They also use Jorah to feign attempts on Daeny, as the show includes.)

There are other problems that their plan would have had, too. Had Viserys lived, then there is no way that he would have accepted Aegon’s claim: even if Viserys had accepted that Aegon was his nephew, then he still was too set on reclaiming the throne to set aside his own claim. In a way, they got lucky that Viserys opted to join the Dothraki: had Viserys decided to wait for them, then he could have been a huge thorn in their side.

However, such plot foibles are not really worth considering. The audience is focused on the main characters, and those do not include Varys, Illyrio, Viserys or anyone else involved with this. GRRM almost certainly intends us to be focused on those main characters, too: otherwise, he would have made Varys, Illyrio, Viseyrs, etc, main characters!

I think his plan for Aegon was pretty steady and solid from the point he was rescued. He adapted to Dany’s situation to keep her in the spotlight but not to support her. To be honest, if it was a serious plan they wouldn’t have allied with the Dothraki. They could have sold the dragon eggs ( not that Illyrio is short of a penny or two) and bought a load of Unsullied. Sacked a few cities to get gold. Employ some sellswords then follow through on the arranged marriage between Viserys and Arianne and combined with Dorne then hit KL after all the other factions had exhausted themselves fighting eachother. If they’d been more sensible and were serious about Viserys then he could well have been on the Iron Throne by now. Instead Dany is still faffing about with the Dothraki! Obviously that wouldn’t have been as interesting a story but would have been much wiser as a strategy to get Targaryen on the Throne. They could easily have done the same with Aegon. Some Unsullied , the Golden Company and Dorne and they’re away!
But yeah, it’s a story not an actual war!